Tavern Watch Podcast

This week on Masks, with the tip from Perseus Pyrite, the Mavericks are hot on the tail of -- presumably -- Silver Age villain Mirror Master, back and probably up to no good. But why did Mirror Master want Pyrite's shield, rumored to be able to open portals in time and space? Is he truly operating on his own? Is the past ever truly buried and behind us? Our teenage powerhouses are about to find out those answers -- for better or worse -- in an encounter that will test their mettle as heroes... and as a team. If you like Young Justice, Young Avengers, and Teen Titans, you'll probably like this game.

GM Phil Ulrich helps our young heroes find their footing in Halcyon City, as the newly named superhero team The Mavericks takes on an old threat with mysterious means and motives. Here's our team:

• Joan as Vida, aka Little Marvel (Beacon). At just five inches tall, you could miss Vida entirely (or only see her service dog Lobo), but she's determined to prove that she can be a hero despite her size.
• Joe as Alex and T.L.O.N., aka Talons (The Host/ed). After a lab accident, Alex found themself merged with T.L.O.N., the Tailored Living Organism Neuropathic-Connection. Living with T.L.O.N. is sometimes complicated, but Alex is committed to using his new powers to help others.
• Matt as Arvana, aka Shrike (Scion). The daughter of interdimensional conqueror Nabasu the Annihilation, Shrike led her father's armies to earth. But, impressed by the heroes of Halcyon City, she decided work with these heroes and turn against Nabasu.
• Liz as Charlie, aka Jade X (Delinquent). Charlie has a habit of getting into (and usually out of) trouble using her power to create illusions. But when she finally got caught, one of the agents of A.E.G.I.S. saw her potential and assigned her to a team of young heroes for training.

This is the third in a three-part game of Masks: A New Generation by Magpie Games. Be sure to listen to the first episodeand the second episode if you haven't yet! If you like our game, you can pick it up for yourself from Magpie or DriveThruRPG. It's a Powered by the Apocalypse game, so characters are based on playbooks, and there are some great fan-made playbooks that expand on the official options. Joe played with a custom playbook called The Host/ed, which you can find here if you're interested.

Music for this game is "Hero Stuff," written and performed by Joseph Perez/Mad Shaman Studios. 

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Masks, our new superhero team comes together to defeat a new threat: paralyzing hero worship as they meet famed Silver Age hero Perseus Pyrite. Could the team be on the trail of a Silver Age villain come back to haunt the city? It's time to make plans (and maybe make friends). If you like Young Justice, Young Avengers, and Teen Titans, you'll probably like this game.

GM Phil Ulrich helps our young heroes find their footing in Halcyon City, as the newly named superhero team The Mavericks takes on a new (or possibly old) threat. Here's our team:

• Joan as Vida, aka Little Marvel (Beacon). At just five inches tall, you could miss Vida entirely (or only see her service dog Lobo), but she's determined to prove that she can be a hero despite her size.
• Joe as Alex and T.L.O.N., aka Talons (The Host/ed). After a lab accident, Alex found themself merged with T.L.O.N., the Tailored Living Organism Neuropathic-Connection. Living with T.L.O.N. is sometimes complicated, but Alex is committed to using his new powers to help others.
• Matt as Arvana, aka Shrike (Scion). The daughter of interdimensional conqueror Nabasu the Annihilation, Shrike led her father's armies to earth. But, impressed by the heroes of Halcyon City, she decided work with these heroes and turn against Nabasu.
• Liz as Charlie, aka Jade X (Delinquent). Charlie has a habit of getting into (and usually out of) trouble using her power to create illusions. But when she finally got caught, one of the agents of A.E.G.I.S. saw her potential and assigned her to a team of young heroes for training.

This is the second in a three-part game of Masks: A New Generation by Magpie Games. Be sure to listen to the first episode if you haven't yet! If you like our game, you can pick it up for yourself from Magpie or DriveThruRPG. It's a Powered by the Apocalypse game, so characters are based on playbooks, and there are some great fan-made playbooks that expand on the official options. Joe played with a custom playbook called The Host/ed, which you can find here if you're interested.

Music for this game is "Hero Stuff," written and performed by Joseph Perez/Mad Shaman Studios. (Hey! We know that guy!)

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time for some superhero action as the team dives into Masks, where we find out just how tough it is to pull a superhero team together. (The name. You've gotta have a name.) If you like Young Justice, Young Avengers, and Teen Titans, you'll probably like this game. (And I happen to think we came up with a pretty good superhero group.)

GM Phil Ulrich helps our young heroes find their footing in Halcyon City, with a crew of misfits (and maybe heroes?). Here's our team:

• Joan as Vida, aka Little Marvel (Beacon). At just five inches tall, you could miss Vida entirely (or only see her service dog Lobo), but she's determined to prove that she can be a hero despite her size.
• Joe as Alex and T.L.O.N., aka Talons (The Host/ed). After a lab accident, Alex found themself merged with T.L.O.N., the Tailored Living Organism Neuropathic-Connection. Living with T.L.O.N. is sometimes complicated, but Alex is committed to using his new powers to help others.
• Matt as Arvana, aka Shrike (Scion). The daughter of interdimensional conqueror Nabasu the Annihilation, Shrike led her father's armies to earth. But, impressed by the heroes of Halcyon City, she decided work with these heroes and turn against Nabasu.
• Liz as Charlie, aka Jade X (Delinquent). Charlie has a habit of getting into (and usually out of) trouble using her power to create illusions. But when she finally got caught, one of the agents of A.E.G.I.S. saw her potential and assigned her to a team of young heroes for training.

This is the first in a three-part game of Masks: A New Generation by Magpie Games. If you like our game, you can pick it up for yourself from Magpie or DriveThruRPG. It's a Powered by the Apocalypse game, so characters are based on playbooks, and there are some great fan-made playbooks that expand on the official options. Joe played with a custom playbook called The Host/ed, which you can find here if you're interested.

Music for this game is "Hero Stuff," written and performed by Joseph Perez/Mad Shaman Studios. 

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daggerheart has just launched, so in this episode we talk about our first impressions of this new game, which seems poised to take on D&D. It's a game that encourages worldbuilding and storytelling, and it's flexible enough to tell different sorts of stories (and comes with several diverse campaign settings) — but not all of us love this new game from the creators of Critical Role.

Fortunately, there are a lot of other games coming out, many of them crowdfunded: we talk about Blades in the Dark: Deep Cuts, a rules expansion for this supernatural criminal TTRPG; Paizo's Pathfinder dating sim card game (yes, you read that right); the Outgunned Superheroes expansion, currently on Backerkit (including a free 70-page quickstart guide); Astra Arcanum, a fascinating new sci-fi TTRPG now on Kickstarter; and a Monty Python TTRPG from Exalted Funeral(yes, this is a real thing and you can buy it right now). It's a great time to be a gamer, because there are so many great tabletop games to play right now.

And, of course, if you prefer D&D to all the rest, the revised Eberron book (including Artificers) is coming in August and Wizards of the Coast is playtesting some interesting new horror-themed subclasses.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

n our third and final game of Legend in the Mist, our little group of friends may be on their way to becoming proper heroes as they track the undead that attacked their village back to its source. (To protect the village, but also to make sure one of their own doesn't turn into a zombie after being poisoned in the attack. One undead zombie was bad enough.) But the sunken, abandoned watchtower they find has secrets of its own. And, knowing their luck, these secrets will have teeth.

To see how this party of neophytes is faring, join GM Phil Ulrich along with our crew of would-be adventurers:

• Chris as Dunny, the local blacksmith, whose father's old sword may be more than it seems. He's been poisoned by the undead, and has to find a cure — but he's hung on this long without becoming a zombie of some kind himself, so it's probably fine.
• Nick as Frye, a hardworking cook at the local tavern, who dreams of becoming a great chef (but mostly finds himself working for ruthless overseers in the kitchen). Fortunately the rest of the group is so caught up in the adventure that they haven't noticed he has special powers of her own.
• Liz as Lyssa, who works at the ferry running people and cargo across the river, but thinks there has to be more to life than this. But after some run-ins with creatures of myth, the outside world is looking a little scary.

This is the last of a three-game series of Legend in the Mist, a game that's designed for fantasy storytelling that scales from our small town heroes to folk heroes of legend. It's a different flavor of fantasy TTRPG, with a vibe that feels quite like The Hobbit, where ordinary folk may find themselves in extraordinary adventures. It has a narrative-centric focus and flexible character creation so you can make the hero you want and play them the way you want. We enjoyed it a lot, and you can pick up a book for yourself from Son of Oak. And if you haven't, start by listening to the first episode and second episode before you tackle this one.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our group of hometown adventurers has set off and found that adventure isn't quite as exciting as the fairy tales make it seem. Even for a short trip to investigate the undead that ventured into their village, road is full of risks — for example, did you know a person could have the moldy status, because that's apparently a thing (and not a good one). But we're definitely not going to spiral out of control and worry about every fairy-tale-turned-reality that might jump out of the shadows and ambush us.

Definitely not.

To see how this party of neophytes is faring, join GM Phil Ulrich along with our crew of would-be adventurers:

• Chris as Dunny, the local blacksmith, whose father's old sword may be more than it seems. He's been poisoned by the undead, and has to find a cure.
• Nick as Frye, a hardworking cook at the local tavern, who dreams of becoming a great chef (but mostly finds himself working for ruthless overseers in the kitchen).
• Liz as Lyssa, who works at the ferry running people and cargo across the river, but thinks there has to be more to life than this.

This is the second of a three-game series of Legend in the Mist, which is designed for fantasy storytelling that scales from our small town heroes to folk heroes of legend. It's a different flavor of fantasy TTRPG, with a vibe that feels quite like The Hobbit, where ordinary folk may find themselves in extraordinary adventures. It has a narrative-centric focus and flexible character creation so you can make the hero you want and play them the way you want. We enjoyed it a lot, and you can pick up a book for yourself from Son of Oak. And if you haven't, you can listen to the first episode now!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're diving into a rustic fantasy of small town heroes (or heroes to be) in Legend in the Mist, where our humble villagers come together to deal with a single shambling undead that found its way to town. Where did it come from? Are there more of them? And is the right solution for the entire town to panic?

That last one really depends on who you ask, but join GM Phil Ulrich along with a group of wannabe heroes venturing out into the world, with:

• Chris as Dunny, the local blacksmith, whose father's old sword may be more than it seems.
• Nick as Frye, a hardworking cook at the local tavern, who dreams of becoming a great chef (but mostly finds himself working for ruthless overseers in the kitchen).
• Liz as Lyssa, who works at the ferry running people and cargo across the river, but thinks there has to be more to life than this.

Will they rise to the challenge, or fall to poisonous sludge and unlucky dice? You'll have to listen to find out!

This is the first of a three-game series of Legend in the Mist, which is designed for fantasy storytelling that scales from our small town heroes to folk heroes of legend. It's a different flavor of fantasy TTRPG, with a vibe that feels quite like The Hobbit, where ordinary folk may find themselves in extraordinary adventures. It has a narrative-centric focus and flexible character creation so you can make the hero you want and play them the way you want. We enjoyed it a lot, and you can pick up a book for yourself from Son of Oak.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a once-in-a-lifetime heist: to sneak into the biggest game convention around (celebrating much loved baking sim and MOBA Heroes of the Dough) and steal the esports trophy (which happens to be made of pretzels) from under everyone's noses (both literally and metaphorically). But that's not enough for our fine flock of feathered felons, who want to make off with the recipe for the limited edition pretzels that conventioneers are gobbling down, turning one heist into two heists. (Trust me, it all makes sense in context. Well, it all mostly makes sense in context.)

Join GM Liz Harper and a cast made up of Blizzard Watch's bird alter egos for our last game of Pigeon's 11! Here are our players:

• Phil Ulrich as Frankie Two-Talons, a boat-tailed grackle.
• Joan Albright as Professor Beakley, an African gray parrot.
• Eric O'Day as Thurston Owl III, a barn owl.
• Matt Rossi as Drom, an emu.
• Joe Perez as Bennie the Blast, a white-throated sparrow.
• Anne Stickney as Cecilia Cabana Banana Von ChiChi (Cece for short), a pigeon disguised as a peacock.

This adventure is just as wacky as it sounds. So join our crew of birds quest for pretzels, cause chaos, and see how many twists they can pull out of the biggest pretzel heist of their lives.

This is the final game in a three-part series of Pigeon's 11 by 9th Level Games. It uses the Polymorph system for a game that's straightforward, narrative focused, and rewards you for rolling a one (to Matt's unending surprise). This is the second Polymorph game we've played — check out our game of Sentai & Sensibility if you want to see more of the system in action — and we've really enjoyed it!

Intro music for this episode is "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're bringing you another game Pigeon's 11, in which our feathered cast of criminals dives into the world of esports and culinary delights at MetzlCon. The plan: to steal the coveted pretzel trophy in the middle of a packed house of gamers and amateur chefs. It may be the biggest gaming convention of the year, but our pigeons only have eyes for the pretzels. (Well, most of them anyway.)

Join GM Liz Harper and a cast made up of Blizzard Watch's bird alter egos:

• Phil Ulrich as Frankie Two-Talons, a boat-tailed grackle.
• Joan Albright as Professor Beakley, an African gray parrot.
• Eric O'Day as Thurston Owl III, a barn owl.
• Matt Rossi as Drom, an emu.
• Joe Perez as Bennie the Blast, a white-throated sparrow.
• Anne Stickney as Cecilia Cabana Banana Von ChiChi (Cece for short), a pigeon disguised as a peacock.

And yes, this adventure is just as wacky as it sounds. So join our crew of birds as struggle through the game convention crowd to see that pretzel trophy first hand and pick out the only one on the convention floor who has a gluten allergy.

This is the second game in a three-part series of Pigeon's 11 by 9th Level Games. It uses the Polymorph system for a game that's straightforward, narrative focused, and rewards you for rolling a one. This is the second Polymorph game we've played — check out our game of Sentai & Sensibility if you want to see more of the system in action — and we've really enjoyed it!

Intro music for this episode is "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're playing Pigeon's 11, an adventure where our fine flock of felonious fowl are getting ready for the heist of a lifetime. (Spoiler: it involves a lot of baked goods and bread puns.) Join GM Liz Harper and a cast made up of Blizzard Watch's bird alter egos:

• Phil Ulrich as Frankie Two-Talons, a boat-tailed grackle.
• Joan Albright as Professor Beakley, an African gray parrot.
• Eric O'Day as Thurston Owl III, a barn owl.
• Matt Rossi as Drom, an emu.
• Joe Perez as Bennie the Blast, a white-throated sparrow.
• Anne Stickney as Cecilia Cabana Banana Von ChiChi (Cece for short), a pigeon disguised as a peacock.

And yes, this adventure is just as wacky as it sounds. So join our crew of birds as they plan their big score, start a few fights, and chase down some baked goods.

This is the first in a three-part series of Pigeon's 11 by 9th Level Games. It uses the polymorph system for a game that's straightforward, narrative focused, and rewards you for rolling a one. This is the second polymorph game we've played — check out our game of Sentai & Sensibility if you want to see more of the system in action — and we've really enjoyed it!

Intro music for this episode is "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.